EQUIPMENT READY FOR CYPRUS FORCE

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y March 14 — The blue berets and the armbands that have identified the United Nations soldiers in the Congo and marked the police force in the Sinai are on their way to Cyprus for the new international peace­keeping force.

Even as the diplomats moved to establish the Cyprus force, a small group of military advisers expedited plans to equip, outfit and feed the contingents of Canadians, Swedes and Irish who will be the first arrivals on the island.

Immediately after the Secur­ity Council ordered the estab­lishment of the Cyprus force by a resolution on March 4, a small team of officials left New York for the island; its assignment, to survey facilities, draw plans for supply, communications and all the complex arrangements that go into providing for a multinational peace force.

The United Nations had on hand sufficient stocks of the berets, blue plastic helmet liners, shoulder patches and scarves used in other overseas operations. The emblem of a white laurel wreath circling a globe against a blue background has been the United Nations' insignia since 1947.

The advance party from the United Nations decided ade­quate foodstuffs could be found on Cyprus. Initially there would be no need as in the Congo and the Middle East to fly in pro­visions. Each of the countries supplying contingents will send in men equipped with necessary weapons and ammunition.

Communications between Cy­prus and the United Nations headquarters already are in op­eration. These were set up when the Secretary General, U Thant, sent Lieut. Gen. Prem Singh Gyani of India to be his ob­server on the island. The 53­year‐old general, who headed the Middle East operation for four years, has been named commander of the Cyprus op­eration.

The Cyprus Government has agreed to supply billeting for the troops. The Austrian Gov­ernment, as its contribution, has agreed to send a hospital unit.

Britain, along with Greece and Turkey, was a signatory of the 1960 treaty guaranteeing to uphold the Constitution of newly independent Cyprus. Under its terms she maintained troops on the island.

At the request of Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus, 5,000 British troops were sent in to control the fighting be­tween the Greek and Turkish communities on the island, bringing the total of British strength to 7,000. Half the United Nations peace‐keeping force will come from Britain.